Saturday, August 09, 2008

I can't recall if I have shown off the first refashion I did, so here it is hanging in the shade of the tree out the front of my house. I got the idea from user Cheytown on Craftster.org Jessica loves this dress. Nice and soft. She's worn it a LOT in the few days she's had it.

The little model (yes, her eczema is unfriendly at the moment) :(Refashion attempt 2, from this --->

To thisAs I am loving the new sewing machine and it's 50+ stitches, I am enjoying trying them out. Jessi likes this flowery wave so I have sewn it along the top of the bodice and the hem. I decided to try out some lace as straps. There was plenty of the stripe fabric for straps as it was a big shirt. There was also plenty of buttons!! 2 on each of the cuffs, a spare on the tag, 1 on the collar and all the ones down what was the front of the shirt. So I made use of those too. The straps probably need to be bought into the centre another inch at least. They were also about 2 inches too long so when I put it on her I tacked them up a bit.

To tie in the lace straps I made some simple gathered flowers and again utilised all those extra buttons. Two vies of said flowers (one kinda shows the flowery stitch around them hem too). Not great photos!!

The ladies at the op shop thought I was bonkers when size 22 me bought a size 10 ladies skirt. I am pretty pleased with the results!! I don't like the pucker in the front where the tie leads off, but Jessica loves it so I am going to leave it alone. I have no idea what is with her super hero poses. I did ask, she said that's how models do it. Who can argue? I didn't want to make this a halter, Jessica did. I wanted regular straps. Jessi asked to have the ribbon ties at the waist too but I didn't know she wanted to do that when I was in Kalgoorlie and only bought 1m of the ribbon which is all used on the halter. Oh well. (not to mention I wasn't unpicking the side seams to put in ribbon ties!).

And from this--->

To this!! A lovely light Indian cotton ladies Medium sized top, now a (roughly) size 3 girls dress. I simply sewed in the side seams, used a piece cut away from the side seams and inset it in the front top (above all those sequins) to keep her little buttons covered, and pleated the back to bring it in some. Oh, and took in the straps about an inch. At the moment the pleat in the back is being held by safety pins. Jessi is rarely home when I am sewing and I made the first pleat far too small. She could hardly get her head into the dress, and the arm holes cut into her. Will fix it up when I finish blogging about it. Most annoying thing about this recon is that I don't have khaki coloured thread and the green I do have, while the same tone, is much too light.

On to a few thrift finds from my trip to Kalgoorlie the other day. I don't usually show off these finds as I buy so many, but for a change I will. I'm pretty pleased with a lot of them. All I did that day was go to op shops and a craft shop to buy a few essentials. I was only in Kal cos I had to pick up my friend and her new baby from the airport and bring them home. On to the pics!

I really love the DMC book. I paid about $3.50 for it, yay!! Good score. It has everything, crochet, macrame, knitting, embroidering, tatting etc etc. The little Deightons smocking book is cute too. Mainly advertising Deightons thread and iron on smock-dots, but it has basic smocking designs too.

A stack of patterns. All of which I pay about 50c for. Nothing I'm overly excited about in this lot though.Some magazines, again 50c-$1 each. Some cute dolls in the patchworking mags, the Mon Tricot and Knitting for Australian Babies books are nice. Some cute designs.Crafty patterns and a free size dress pattern. I've not paid much attention to it, but free size sounds interesting. The Top Kids magazines I paid $1 each for and actually have 37, 40, 41, 42, 44, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54 but somehow 2 of them missed getting their picture taken. Aww :( *lol* These mags are basically all kids clothing from the 90's so some of it's pretty unfashionable. All but one have the pattern sheets though and there is enough useable/adaptable items to make $1 each so worth it.Crappy handbags. 50c for the UGLY pink thing, and $1 for the ugly black one. I bought both of these for the handles. 50c for those nice pink beads (which extend under the fabric also) is cool, and $1 for those metal handles and the salvaged zipper is all good too.

More clothes to refashion. Most I paid was $5. Sadly, very bad photos and doesn't show off the colours and designs at all well.

I like the light blue on on the left. I doubt Neil will wear it though. He already took 3 of the shirts for himself. I did offer, but he took the 3 most intersting (of course!) *lol*

These shirts are identical. The flash was on for the blue one which looks shocking. The photo I took without the flash didn't work as the batteries died, so this will have to do. They're a mens XL, but sooo big. One a light lemon yellow, the other a baby blue. Paid $5e and they are silk or something very much like it. I have no idea what they are really. Shiny like satin but not smooth and glossy like satin. There is a tag you can see on the yellow one but it only says the maker and a phone number. I looked along the side seams but no other tags to give care instructions or any indication of the fabric. Such a shame. I can see these being a pretty little dress or something to that effect.Again, shitty looking photos. The one on the left is a ladies broderie anglaise in a mint green (paid $1). Very pretty but also very fine. I've taken this one to bits already and snacked it more than once with the seam ripper. The one on the right is a mens shirt in a wasabi green. I like it a lot! It has lovely textured stripes down it and is a synthetic fabric of some kind. Almost papery to touch.

I got two identical tops on the left. Again, only $1 each in a nice soft blue. Another broderie anglaise type fabric (cos I get suckered in by the stuff every time!) but also embroidered. I've pulled them apart too and the 2 huge darts front and back on 2 tops was monotonous to unpick to say the least. The other is a nice floral print with coloured stripes. I like the print but not as a ladies shirt. It looks so tacky! Hopefully I can find something more fitting a use.

Ladies 12-14 Target brunch coat. Can you see that I am obsessed with broderie fabrics?! I tried to take a close up of the border broderie at the hem but poor light and crap camera equals shit photo.

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About Shell

I'm a mother of one from a very small town in Western Australia (population 800 people or so). My daughter Jessi means the world to me and I keep sane through my numerous craft activities while trying to build a life for Jessica and I.

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